champagne

If these EU trade negotiators get their way, there will be no more champagne on U.S. store shelves, unless from the Champagne region of France.

And, you can say goodbye to gouda cheese.

And kiss your Kraft parmesan bye-bye.

Via NY Post:

Have you ever heard that “real Champagne” only comes from the Champagne region of France? It’s a great thing to say at a party if you want to sound sophisticated and insufferable.

In Europe, it’s also the law.

It may soon be the law in the United States, too, if European trade negotiators get their way. They want to use a potential trade agreement between the United States and the European Union to ban the sale of any wines, cheeses or other food products named after places in Europe — unless, of course, those products are actually made in Europe.

This would affect not only wines like Champagne, port and sherry but also cheeses like parmesan, gouda and feta. These and dozens of other common food names would simply disappear from most American grocery store shelves.

There are many reasons why the United States shouldn’t acquiesce to Europe’s demands. The European system of protecting geographical food names is protectionist. It encourages people not to innovate. And it props up traditional producers at the expense of economic growth….

What’s better for regular consumers — those of us who don’t have a wine cellar or favorite cheese shop — is to let us keep using the common food names we do already….

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